“Your first day on the radio!” Jocelyn said, setting platters of eggs, sausage, and toast on the table. “Eat hearty!”
“Mmmm!” Benny said, heaping his plate with food.
Jessie nibbled at her eggs. She was so excited, she had hardly slept the night before. Everyone except Gwen was sitting around the breakfast table. Jessie wondered why Gwen was late. This was an important day!
“I want to thank you children for doing the show this week,” Jocelyn said. “If you hadn’t volunteered, we would have had to cancel the program. The station would have lost a lot of money — and our listeners would be very disappointed!”
“Doing the show will be fun,” Henry said.
“And it gives us a good excuse to hang around the station looking for clues,” Violet added.
Jocelyn gave a ring with two keys on it to Henry. “You should have your own keys. The big one is for the front door of the station. The small one goes to this house.”
Gwen breezed into the dining room, her red hair streaming down her back. “I bet you guys never had a mystery like this before,” she said. “The ghost hasn’t left behind a single clue.”
“We’ve had some pretty tough mysteries,” Violet said. “But sooner or later, we always find clues.”
Sometimes Gwen acts like she doesn’t want us to solve the mystery, she thought.
“Good luck today. We’ll be listening to your program,” Grandfather said as the kids got ready to leave.
“It’ll be the best radio show ever!” Benny declared.
The Aldens and Gwen walked the short distance to the station. Inside, Avery waved hello from the control booth.
Frances St. Clair was in the breakroom, working at the table.
“Is that the script?” Gwen asked.
“I wrote half the night,” Frances said grumpily, “but it’s finished.” She passed out yellow-covered copies to Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Gwen.
Henry read the title on the front cover. “‘The Ghost Dog.’ Sounds great.”
“Since you can’t read that well,” Frances told Benny, “I’ve given you the part of the ghost dog.”
Benny was delighted. “Oh, boy! Is it a big dog or a little dog?” He yipped like Watch, their dog back home.
“The script says it’s a Labrador retriever,” Jessie said. “That’s a big dog.”
“Woof!” Benny deepened his voice.
“It looks like there are lots more sound effects in this play,” Gwen said, “so you can also be my assistant.”
Everyone read the play silently. The story was about three children who move into a house haunted by the ghost of a dog that had lived there long ago. Violet played the youngest sister. Jessie and Henry played thirteen-year-old twins.
When they had finished reading the script, Frances said, “We’ll do a run-through first. You’ll read from the scripts during the broadcast, but you’ll also be acting.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jessie.
“I mean, I want you to read the lines without sounding like you’re reading them,” Frances answered. “Put lots of expression into your voice. Like this.” After clearing her throat, she read one of Violet’s lines. “‘What was that? It sounded like — a dog howling. But there is no dog!’”
Frances made her voice high and breathless. She sounded exactly like a scared child.
Henry nodded. “I get it.” He found one of his own lines and read it. “‘Look! The dog went right through the wall, just like the wall wasn’t there!’” He made his voice sound like he was astonished.
Jessie read one of her lines, too. She enjoyed acting and was very good.
“Now let’s hear Benny,” Frances said.
Benny practiced howling and barking.
“Good. Practice reading your parts to yourselves for a few minutes and then we’ll do the run-through,” said Frances.
Then they all headed to the soundstage, where Frances arranged three standing microphones and Gwen set up her box of sound effects props.
Violet felt fluttering in her stomach, like butterflies. She had stage fright! “What if we make a mistake?” she said nervously.
“Mistakes happen. Just keep going,” Frances said. “We’re broadcasting live, after all. Keep your place in the script and you’ll be fine.”
Gwen selected the tapes she needed for that day’s sound effects. She told Benny, “I’ll do some of the sound effects with props, but mostly I’ll use tapes. You can hit the PLAY button on the cassette player when I signal you.”
Henry, Jessie, and Violet read through the script, complete with sound effects, with only a few mistakes. Then it was airtime.
Frances counted down the seconds. The red ON AIR sign in the hall flashed on. They were on the radio!
Violet’s nervousness vanished as soon as she read her first line. Benny was so good in his part, she almost believed there was an invisible dog.
Henry was surprised at how fast twenty minutes passed. All too soon, Frances was announcing that the show would continue tomorrow. The red ON AIR light went off. They heard the familiar Earl’s Auto Sales jingle playing through the speakers.
“I can’t believe we just did a radio show!” Violet said as Gwen turned off the microphones. “I hope the listeners liked it.”
As Violet spoke, the phones in the soundstage and Avery’s control booth lit up. Frances and Avery were busy answering one call after another.
Avery ran out of the control booth. “Kids love the program!”
“I wrote a hit show!” Frances crowed.
“Our actors deserve a lot of the credit,” Avery said. “You were terrific!”
Frances took the next call. Jessie watched her happy smile turn into an expression of concern. Something was wrong.
When Frances hung up, she said, “Well, not everyone is thrilled with our show.”
“Who was that?” Gwen asked.
“Earl Biggs,” Frances said.
“The guy whose car commercials come on after the show?” Benny asked.
Frances nodded. “Exactly. He listened to the show from his office next door,” she said. “He called to complain. He said he doesn’t want to sponsor a kiddie show. Kids don’t buy cars.”
“He doesn’t know the entire cast walked out yesterday,” Avery said. “I’ll tell him. And I’ll tell him we’re just doing a children’s mystery program this week. And that the listeners loved it. Let’s hope he isn’t mad enough to pull his advertising.”
“He seems to be looking for excuses to cancel his account,” Frances said, leaving the room to answer another phone.
“Do you think it’s possible that Earl could be the ghost?” Jessie asked Gwen.
Gwen looked sharply at her. “What makes you think that?”
“Everyone is a suspect in a case like this,” Henry told her. “And Earl has a key, right? So he could sneak in and out without much trouble.”
Gwen scowled. “I guess so.” She turned abruptly from the Aldens and picked up the garbage can. “This place is a mess,” she said. “I should clean.”
“May we help?” asked Violet.
Gwen shrugged. “Sure. Gran can’t afford a cleaning crew, so everyone who works here takes turns emptying the trash, mopping, and dusting.”
“I’ll sweep the floor,” Jessie said.
“And I’ll empty the trash cans,” Benny offered.
“Thanks,” said Gwen. “The Dumpster is out the side door.”
Benny collected the trash in one wastebasket, then opened the door at the end of the hall. Benny didn’t have a key, so he propped the door open with a second wastebasket.
A large Dumpster stood at the edge of the parking lot. On the other side was Earl’s Auto Sales. The small cinder block building was surrounded by shiny cars.
As Benny watched, a man in a cowboy hat came out of the building. He walked over to one of the cars and slapped a SOLD sign under the windshield wiper.
When the man saw Benny, he crossed the parking lot.
“Don’t believe I know you,” he said in a gravelly voice. “I’m Earl Biggs.”
“I’m Benny Alden,” Benny replied.
The man’s fluffy gray eyebrows shot upward in surprise. “You must be one of the kids in the radio show.”
Benny nodded. “I was the ghost dog! My brother and sisters are in the play, too. It’s fun.”
“Well, the fun’s over,” Earl said. “You won’t be doing the show anymore. I need to talk to Avery.” He walked into the station through the propped-open door.
Benny emptied the wastebasket, then hurried back inside the station. He heard a phone ringing. Both Avery and Frances were already tied up on other calls.
Benny spied an extension in the break-room and picked up the receiver. Before he could say anything, he heard a man saying, “I must have an answer.”
Benny’s mouth dropped open in surprise. The gravelly voice sounded like Earl Biggs! Was he on another phone in the station?
Then another person spoke. “I need more time,” she said.
Benny recognized the other voice, too. It was Jocelyn Hawley. She sounded upset.
What was Earl Biggs demanding from her? |